Snow Day, yea!

Peter and I both had off from work today because of the snow - our first, and maybe only, snow day of 2008. I seem to recall a few years ago, having some snow days as late as March, but lately it seems like snow days have already come and gone by now. We had a nice lunch today at Olive Garden - Calamari, Soup, Salad, and Bread Sticks, yummy! Afterwards we had a chance to do a little free reading at our local library, also known as Borders Bookstore, haha, and now we're home for the night watching BBC. It makes Peter laugh hysterically when I say "BBC" with my fake British accent.

Vacation News...

There's just one month left until our vacation to Prague - I'm really starting to get excited! I've finally gotten all of my hoped for camera accessories...

I picked up the two SanDisk cards at Costco this past week for great prices. It was around $60 for both. The Cybershot battery was a little pricier than I would have liked but mine is dead, and the lens - well I've been wanting that for what feels like FOREVER, and it is pretty much the cheapest, decent lens out there.

Dissertation Update

I developed a pilot program of my suggested staff technology professional development plan for my School district. Wow, that sounds like a mouthful. The course is a hybrid professional development experience - only two meetings in person, the rest online through Blackboard - and it will run for six weeks. It begins this Monday. The focus is using Podcasting in the Classroom. Teachers will learn what Podcasts are, how to use them in the classroom, and how to create their own. I am extremely excited about this! I will be working all weekend to get the Blackboard course up and running. This is totally a geeky dream come true for me!

I also need to get back to writing my dissertation. I need to add additional material to my Chapters 1 and 2, and write Chapter 3.

Etc..

I baked a homemade Cherry Pie tonight for Peter. Ok, I should be honest. I used pre-made pie crust from Acme and dumped this in:

It's from a company called Chukar Cherries. Definitely pricey for pie filling - but I have a feeling it will be awesome! We first had Chukar Cherries when we were out in Seattle in the Spring of 2004. It's making the house smell so good - so that counts as homemade to me! I'm not really a pie person and I think I'll try a bit.

Pink Shoes=Happiness

Found these today:

Love, love, love them!

Well, the best laid plans...

don't always turn out the way you want them to. Sigh.

My doctoral HSRC (Human Subjects Review Committee) meeting was an interesting experience. I walked in with some expectations - of having my proposal signed off on and moving forward to finish up my dissertation and graduate this May. I put all my eggs in that basket so to speak.

It ended up that my committee members felt my dissertation needed some work - specifically more background information about technology integration, additional sources and so forth, and more current information about what is going on with technology integration in high school classrooms nationwide and in my district. The big piece was that my committee wants me to implement a pilot program with teachers in my school district, and collect data before and after the program by having those involved take the LoTi survey.

Now that's a good idea - really it is. If I'm honest with myself, it makes my proposal a better plan overall. It's better to collect data, research, run a program, and analyze it, and then suggest a plan of action to my school board, then to just suggest a plan based on a know gap that exists. This means, however, that I won't be graduating in May. But I was/am so disappointed. And it was Valentine's Day.

But I have the world's best husband. I came home and he totally made my night.

First, I got these beautiful tulips:

And then this awesome Hello Kitty Balloon:

And then this...

A new ZUNE!!! You can't see it from the picture, but it's engraved with a special message and a really cute design from my hubby. I've already named it. Yes, I name all of my electronics. "Her" name is "Ruby".

I made Peter dinner...

Pasta - it's heart shaped but you can't tell from the pic!

And has some pretty cool gifts for him, if I do say so myself...

A fuzzy "XO" card, A Sweetheart Spud Mr. Potato Head (it's Cupid and cute, but a little strange), and some Chuckar Cherry Sweets (specially shipped from Seattle - yummy!): Dried Bing Cherries, Cherry Pancake Mix, and Cherry Pie filling. I plan on making the pancakes tomorrow for his breakfast, and the pie Sunday night for him to enjoy this week.

I taught professional development today for my district - two sessions called "Getting Started with Podcasting". Both went really well - active participation for the most part and teachers who really seemed to want to be there. While there I came up with an idea for my pilot program for my dissertation. Hopefully I'll have some news if my idea is a go.

Big Day Tomorrow!

1. Driving to Dover to attend the BPA State Grading day event. Turning in one of my groups of students' competition materials - super excited about that.

2. The day has come - my HSRC Meeting! 4 PM at Wilmington University. Hope I'm ready.

3. Driving home to see the hubby. Have one super sweet gift ready. Three little sweet gifts hopefully arriving by UPS tomorrow. Making dinner - pasta - red and tan pasta!

Oh, and one more thing - I gave my students really cute Valentine's Day treats today. Peter tells me I should start giving them carrots, but those aren't half as good as these are:

it's hard to believe Valentine's Day is almost here.

It feels like yesterday that it was the Christmas holiday! Work has been really busy lately, as has my doctorate class. This semester is my final regular class, Managing Human and Material Resources. Only two more sessions to go. Thank goodness! I'm feeling a little antsy at this point.

Important things going on right now (or recently!)

...This past week 27 of my 38 students took their Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Exams in Word 2007 and 20 passed! Woohoo - I am SO AMAZINGLY PROUD OF THEM! They are only in 10th grade so this is a huge accomplishment. Oh, and they are the first students in Delaware to pass this test - wow!

...Peter and I are finally going back to Prague - for the first time since August 2001. We've reserved the hotel, and booked our flight. The plane tickets arrived this past week. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for paying for this spring vacation! 40 days until we leave. Oh, and my passport just arrived too:

Nothing like doing things last minute, I know. My last passport wasn't expired yet, but my name changed when we got married, so I had to get a new one. I'm really looking forward to seeing my in-laws again!

...I meet with my Human Subjects Review Committee this Thursday, Valentine's Day - hopefully that's good luck!

...I'm going back to the gym tomorrow. I've been a bum and haven't been working out. I've been working plenty, just not exercising. As much as I hate to admit it, I really feel better when I work out.